Spring 2017

There’s a spring in my step as I bound on and off of quartzite boulders, rising as I do above the north tip of Stansbury Island in the Great Salt Lake. Windy conditions have rendered fishing for brine shrimp eggs unproductive, so we fishermen have the afternoon off. Since I was fishing nearby in Carrington […]

Bonanza Flats Conservation Deadline Extended By Tom Diegel The Central Wasatch mountains have always been an complex patchwork of ownership, use, claims, and jurisdiction: three counties, a dozen cities, two state highways, three watersheds, seven ski resorts, thousands of residents, and thousands of acres of wilderness are all packed into a very small area. […]

Everyone who climbs in Indian Creek, part of the new Bears Ears National Monument, drives a two-lane road off the paved highway south of Moab to get to the historic Dugout Ranch and the spires at Indian Creek. Along the way are old houses and cabins in a place called Dry Valley. Most climbers […]

Several years ago Andy Waddington, a noted British photographer (http://andrewwaddington.com/galleries), told me of the existence of a large and beautiful arch near Lake Powell. Known as Faraway Arch, it had never been seen from the ground, though Andy, and others, had seen it from an airplane. It appears inaccessible, as it is bordered by […]

Photos by Matt Clevenger Cataract Canyon has the capability to be so many different beasts: at medium water levels it’s a rollicking romp through big water that’s welcome relief after days of flat stroking to get to the rapids, at high water it generates some of the most fearsome hydraulic features in the West, […]

“It’s magic hour!” I yelled to Sam cruising behind me. The western light bounced off the enormous sandstone walls as the road at the base snaked its way high above the San Juan River. On the horizon we spotted distant views of towers and spires of Monument Valley. Our group of desert wanderers spent eight […]

I’m hiking up a scree field in my ski boots. With each step, a mini rock-a-lanche cascades down, initiated beneath my worn soles. A few smaller rocks gain momentum and ping down toward Mason Diedrich, who is boulder hopping below. Like me, he has skis on his pack, poles in each hand, and stiff plastic […]

It wasn’t your typical November day. The sun was high overhead, my weather app read 70 degrees, and my friends and I were climbing in shorts and t-shirts. Typically, American Fork is colder than the valley, and the thought of climbing there in late November prompted me to pack my puffy, gloves, hand warmers, and […]

At 11:00 p.m. on Friday September 2nd, we pulled into my friend’s guide company’s boathouse in Jensen, Utah, just outside of Dinosaur National Monument. We were greeted with a big hug, a cold beer, and my friend Emmet laughing and shaking his head at us. He was pretty excited for the upcoming sufferfest and was […]